Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of what is being touted as Asia’s largest airport, Noida International Airport (NIA), in Jewar, Gautam Buddha Nagar on Thursday.
Once completed, the airport will be the second international airport to come up in Delhi National Capital Region. NIA will help decongest the Indira Gandhi International Airport and will be the fifth international airport in the politically crucial northern state.
While addressing the gathering at the venue, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the airport will bring an investment of Rs 35,000 crore to the region.
As per government accounts, the development of the first phase of the airport is being done at a cost of over Rs 10,050 crore. Spread over more than 1300 hectares of land, the completed first phase of the airport will have a capacity to serve around 1.2 crore passengers a year and work on it is scheduled to be completed by 2024.
It will be executed by the international bidder Zurich Airport International AG as a concessionaire. The groundwork for the first phase regarding land acquisition and rehabilitation of the affected families has been completed.
NIA has been conceptualised with an integrated multi-modal cargo hub, with a focus on reducing the total cost and time for logistics. The airport will develop a Ground Transportation Centre that will feature a multimodal transit hub, housing metro and high-speed rail stations, taxi, bus services and private parking, said UP CM Yogi Adityanath in a tweet. This will enable seamless connectivity of the airport with road, rail, and metro.
All major nearby roads and highways like the Yamuna Expressway, Western Peripheral Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and others will be connected to the airport. It will also be linked to the planned Delhi-Varanasi High-Speed Rail, enabling the journey between Delhi and the airport in only 21 minutes.
The dedicated cargo terminal will have a capacity of 20 lakh metric tonne, which will be expanded to 80 lakh metric tonne. Through facilitating seamless movement of industrial products, the airport will play a crucial role in helping the region attract huge investments, boost rapid industrial growth, and enable reach of local products to national and international markets. This will bring new opportunities for numerous enterprises, and also create tremendous employment opportunities.
